1st Virtual Fair

The Costa Brava and the Pirineu de Girona are promoted in a North American virtual tourism fair.

Conexion Spain Virtual was held for the first time from 6^th to 13^th July, promoted by the Spanish tourism office in Toronto. This virtual fair mainly focused on the MICE segment (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events) and on products such as culture, holiday leisure, gastronomy and active tourism. The Patronat de Turisme Costa Brava Girona and the Girona Convention Bureau took part together. The Costa Brava Verd Hotels association also took part in the fair.

This new fair concept and format has been created with the goal of presenting Spanish destinations that focus on tourism and various specific products to professionals from the US and Canadian tourism sector. The Patronat de Turisme Costa Brava Girona and the Girona Convention Bureau became involved in the initiative in order to promote and disseminate the general tourism offer of the Costa Brava and Pirineu de Girona brands, as well as meeting, incentive, conference and event products in the Girona area. The two organisations are keen to experience and evaluate the effectiveness of this new promotional channel, which involves lower costs and a larger number of contacts.

This event is an online platform in which visitors and exhibitors interact through an affinity test that enables them to find out about each other, make contact, interact and begin to exchange information and do business. As such, new contacts are generated between professionals: potential customers and providers or tourism organisations and companies of the destinations.

By the end of the virtual fair, the organisers estimated that Conexion Spain Virtual had received more than 7,378 unique visitors and considered that it had reached a larger number of professionals, since the virtual format enabled the platform to remain up and running 24 hours a day, reaching more agents regardless of geographical location.

This new marketing and communication initiative, aimed at promoting and disseminating the tourism offer of the Costa Brava and Pirineu de Girona destinations among tourism professionals, forms part of the Marketing and Promotion programme of the Strategic Tourism Plan of the counties of Girona that the Patronat de Turisme has been applying since the start of the year.